At the end of the night, Mark Sanchez looked a lot like his team — shaken but still standing.
The Jets quarterback and his team survived a wild, come-from-behind 27-24 win over the Cowboys to open the 2011 season and their quest to win a Super Bowl.
Gang Green did not play well, but played well enough to pull out the game after trailing 24-10 in the fourth quarter in front of 78,702 fans on an emotional night at MetLife Stadium.
PHOTOS: JETS RALLY TO BEAT COWBOYS, 27-24
The game wasn’t won until Nick Folk hit a 50-yard field goal with 27 seconds left. The field goal was set up by Darrelle Revis’ first interception in two years. He picked off Tony Romo’s pass intended for Dez Bryant with 59 seconds left.
The two teams played a dizzying fourth quarter with enough momentum shifts to fill a game. Despite trailing by two touchdowns, the Jets kept fighting.
“There’s no quit in this bunch,” coach Rex Ryan said. “None.”
After the game, Sanchez looked groggy while talking to reporters. The third-year quarterback had a mediocre game, throwing for 335 yards but committing two second-half turnovers. Sanchez was asked several times if he was OK and said he was, but his condition bears watching.
The entire Jets team looked a bit wiped out after this one. The day began with an emotional tribute on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Hours later, the Jets looked dazed but happy with the win.
“It was a good fight and an emotional win,” Sanchez said, who completed 26 of 44 passes.
The Cowboys had the ball with 59 seconds left and the game tied 24-24 after a Jets punt. The Jets disguised their defense to make it look like they were blitzing before dropping into a zone. When defensive coordinator Mike Pettine called “Jet Mike Mix,” Revis was waiting for Romo’s throw, intercepted it at the Jets’ 46 and returned it 20 yards to the Cowboys’ 34. Folk, who was cut by the Cowboys two years ago, then booted the game-winner.
“We win that football game if I don’t do what I did,” Romo said. “We lost this game because of me.”
The air had completely come out of MetLife Stadium after Mark Sanchez fumbled with about six minutes left in the game and the Jets trailing, 24-17. But the Cowboys — who were 241-0-1 when leading by 14 points or more in the fourth quarter, according to NBC — could not move the ball, instead marching backwards with penalties.
When Mat McBriar lined up to punt at the Dallas 41, backup running back Joe McKnight burst through the middle of the line untouched to block the punt. Isaiah Trufant, signed from the practice squad Saturday, picked the ball up and ran 18 yards for the game-tying touchdown with five minutes left.
“This was a total team win,” linebacker Bart Scott said.
The Jets’ fourth-quarter rally began with a 26-yard touchdown catch by Plaxico Burress, playing his first regular-season game in nearly three years, that made it 24-17.
A 64-yard reception by Jason Witten put the Cowboys in position to quickly rebuild their lead, but the Jets forced a Romo fumble at the goal line with a little over nine minutes remaining.
Sanchez handed the Cowboys the ball right back when safety Danny McCray came on a blitz and knocked the ball loose, hushing the MetLife Stadium crowd. It was Sanchez’s second turnover of the half to go along with a third-quarter interception.
Rex and Rob Ryan matched wits for the entire first half, making the opposing offenses look confused for the most part. After some early success from Bryant, Rex Ryan put Revis on him and slowed his production.
Rob Ryan deployed outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware to wreck the Jets’ offense. He made new Jets right tackle Wayne Hunter look awful. It wasn’t just Hunter, though. Ware moved around the line and also beat D’Brickashaw Ferguson for a sack.
The Jets managed 135 total yards in the first half, 25 on the ground. Shonn Greene had just 13 yards on four carries in the half.
The Jets offense finally showed some life just before halftime. Operating in a hurry-up, Sanchez moved the team down the field 87 yards for the Jets’ first score of the night.
brian.costello@nypost.com